Groundbreaking Technological Breakthrough in the Chinese Zipper Industry

The Global "Zippers Market"was valued at 15400 million USD in 2020 and is expected to reach 20100 million USD by 2024, at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. The increasing use of zippers in garment, luggage and bags, sporting goods, camping gear, and other industries is driving the growth of the customized zippers market across the globe.

With increasing demand from downstream industry, zipper production shows continuous upward trend in the recent few years. According to the raw materials, zipper can be mainly divided into three categories: metal zippers, nylon zippers and plastic zippers, of which nylon zipper accounts for the largest production market share with 68.66% in 2020. Global production of zipper is 53181 M Meters in 2020, increased from 46590 M Meters in 2013. China is the largest base of zipper globally with the share of 56.05% in 2020. However, when considering the product quality, China still has obvious gap with manufacturers from developed countries, such as Japan and Europe.When refers to the consumption, Asia is the key consumer. China is the largest one and contributed 37.25% share in the consumption market in 2020. Southeast Asia is the follower with consumption volume of 8617 M Meters. Therefore, technological breakthroughs in the zipper industry are very important.

This article mainly introduces groundbreaking technological breakthrough in the Chinese zipper industry.

For many years, "zipper arching" has been a common technical challenge facing China's zipper industry. It refers to the arched shape of these finished zippers on other items, which is caused by factors such as uneven shrinkage of the zippers and the attached fabric after high-pressure steam ironing.

Fortunately, thanks to the joint efforts of the expert team of the Haixi Branch of the Chinese Academy of Textile Sciences and the technical R&D personnel of China's major zipper manufacturing companies (including KKK zipper), a major technological breakthrough has been made recently.

Experts from fiber industry, textile industry, dyeing and finishing industry, inspection industry to machinery industry, and technicians from leading zipper factories have conducted many field investigations on raw materials and key products. Their efforts finally paid off, and they developed polyester filaments dedicated to industrial use, and developed a new zipper tape forming machine, both of which helped to improve a series of technologies involved in the zipper manufacturing process. And it provides a breakthrough solution to the "arching" problem.

According to the test conducted at the KKK Zipper Quality Inspection Center last month, none of the finished zipper products that have been ironed by high temperature steam show arches, and their shrinkage index has reached international standards. After thousands of tests and a lot of research, this is indeed an unforgettable moment.

According to experts from Haixi Branch, technological breakthroughs will help solve common problems faced by Chinese zipper manufacturers, from shrinkage and arching of finished zippers using conventional polyester filaments to uneven dyeing of zipper tapes. This breakthrough will greatly improve the overall product quality and enable zipper manufacturing across China to reach international standards. In turn, this will improve the competitiveness of home zipper products and provide a larger market share for mid-to-high-end zipper markets globally.

It won’t be long before the newly developed raw materials and zipper making machines will be put into practice on a large scale. It is estimated that only in the Jinjiang area, the added value of the zipper project will achieve an added value of 200 million yuan per year.